Gautama Buddha

Gautama Buddha, popularly known as the Buddha or Lord Buddha (also known as Siddhattha Gotama or Siddhārtha Gautama or Buddha Shakyamuni), was a sramana who lived in ancient india (c. 6th to 5th century BCE or c. 5th to 4th century BCE). He is regarded as the founder of the world religion of Busshism, and revered by most Buddhist schools as a sevior, the Enlightened one who rediscovered an ancient path to release clinging and craving and escape the cycle of birth and rebirth. He taught for around 45 years and built a large following, both monastic and lay. His teaching is based on his insight into the arising of duhkha (the unsatisfactoriness of clinging to impermanent states and things) and the ending of duhkha—the state called Nibbana or Nirvana (extinguishing of the three fires ).

The Buddha was born into an aristocratic family in the shakya clan, but eventually renounced lay life. According to Buddhist tradition, after several years of meadicancy, meditation, and asceticism, the awakened to understand the mechanism which keeps people trapped in the cycle of rebirth. The Buddha then traveled throughout the Ganges plain teaching and building a religious community. The Buddha taught a middle way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the Indian sramana movement. He taught a training of the mind that included ethical training, self restrint,and meditative practices such as jhana and mindfulnees. The Buddha also critiqued the practices of Brahmin priests, such as animal sacrifice and the caste system.

A couple of centuries after his death he came to be known by the title Buddha, which means "Awakened One" or "Enlightened One". Gautama's teachings were compiled by the Buddhist community in the vinaya, his codes for monastic practice, and the sttas, texts based on his discourses. These were passed down in Middle indo aryan dialects through an oral tradition. Later generations composed additional texts, such as systematic treatises known as Abhidharma, biographies of the Buddha, collections of stories about the Buddha's past lives known as Jataka tales, and additional discourses, i.e. the Mahayana sutras.